The young and handsome Chevalier du Vissard, eager to be
forgiven for the joke which had led to the insults at La Vivetiere,
now came up to her and respectfully invited her to dance. She placed
her hand in his, and they took their places in a quadrille opposite to
Madame du Gua. The gowns of the royalist women, which recalled the
fashions of the exiled court, and their creped and powdered hair
seemed absurd as soon as they were contrasted with the attire which
republican fashions authorized Mademoiselle de Verneuil to wear. This
attire, which was elegant, rich, and yet severe, was loudly condemned
but inwardly envied by all the women present. The men could not
restrain their admiration for the beauty of her natural hair and the
adjustment of a dress the charm of which was in the proportions of the
form which it revealed.
At that moment the marquis and the count re-entered the ballroom
behind Mademoiselle de Verneuil, who did not turn her head. If a
mirror had not been there to inform her of Montauran's presence, she
would have known it from Madame du Gua's face, which scarcely
concealed, under an apparently indifferent air, the impatience with
which she awaited the conflict which must, sooner or later, take place
between the lovers. Though the marquis talked with the count and other
persons, he heard the remarks of all the dancers who from time to time
in the mazes of the quadrille took the place of Mademoiselle de
Verneuil and her partner.
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